| Abstract: | Tropical forests play a major role in regulating global carbon (C) fluxes and stocks, and even small changes to C cycling in this productive biome could dramatically affect atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. Temperature is expected to increase over all land surfaces in the future, yet we have a surprisingly poor understanding of how tropical forests will respond to this significant climatic change. Here we present a contemporary synthesis of the existing data and what they suggest about how tropical forests will respond to increasing temperatures. Our goals were to: (i) determine whether there is enough evidence to support the conclusion that increased temperature will affect tropical forest C balance; (ii) if there is sufficient evidence, determine what direction this effect will take; and, (iii) establish what steps should to be taken to resolve the uncertainties surrounding tropical forest responses to increasing temperatures. We approach these questions from a mass-balance perspective and therefore focus primarily on the effects of temperature on inputs and outputs of C, spanning microbial- to ecosystem-scale responses. We found that, while there is the strong potential for temperature to affect processes related to C cycling and storage in tropical forests, a notable lack of data combined with the physical, biological and chemical diversity of the forests themselves make it difficult to resolve this issue with certainty. We suggest a variety of experimental approaches that could help elucidate how tropical forests will respond to warming, including large-scale in situ manipulation experiments, longer term field experiments, the incorporation of a range of scales in the investigation of warming effects (both spatial and temporal), as well as the inclusion of a diversity of tropical forest sites. Finally, we highlight areas of tropical forest research where notably few data are available, including temperature effects on: nutrient cycling, heterotrophic versus autotrophic respiration, thermal acclimation versus substrate limitation of plant and microbial communities, below-ground C allocation, species composition (plant and microbial), and the hydraulic architecture of roots. Whether or not tropical forests will become a source or a sink of C in a warmer world remains highly uncertain. Given the importance of these ecosystems to the global C budget, resolving this uncertainty is a primary research priority. |
| Genre: | Article |
| ProdID: | 70041661 |
| Citation Author: | Wood, Tana E.; Cavaleri, Molly A.; Reed, Sasha C. |
| Citation Contributing Office: | Southwest Biological Science Center |
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| Citation End Page: | 927 |
| Citation Issue: | 4 |
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| Citation Language: | English |
| Citation Larger Work Title: | Biological Reviews |
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| Citation Month: | NOV |
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| Citation Number Of Pages: | 16 |
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| Citation Phsyical Description: | 16 p. |
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| Citation Publisher: | Wiley |
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| Citation Search Results Text: | Tropical forest carbon balance in a warmer world: a critical review spanning microbial- to ecosystem-scale processes; 2012; Article; Journal; Biological Reviews; Wood, Tana E.; Cavaleri, Molly A.; Reed, Sasha C. |
| Citation Start Page: | 912 |
| Citation Volume: | 87 |
| Citation Year: | 2012 |
| Type: | citation/reference |
| Text: | Tropical forest carbon balance in a warmer world: a critical review spanning microbial- to ecosystem-scale processes; 2012; Article; Journal; Biological Reviews; Wood, Tana E.; Cavaleri, Molly A.; Reed, Sasha C. |
| URL (THUMBNAIL): | http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg |
| URL (DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER): | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2012.00232.x |
| Date Other: | Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:00 -0600 |
| Publisher: | Wiley |
